lunch

American  

[luhnch] / lʌntʃ /

noun

1. a light midday meal between breakfast and dinner; luncheon.

2. any light meal or snack.

3. a restaurant or lunchroom.

   Let's eat at the dairy lunch.

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verb (used without object)

1. to eat lunch.

   We lunched quite late today.

verb (used with object)

1. to provide lunch for.

   They lunched us in regal fashion.

idioms

1. out to lunch, not paying attention or tending to business; negligent.

   You must have been out to lunch when you wrote that weird report.

lunch British  

/ lʌntʃ /

noun

1. a meal eaten during the middle of the day

2. (among older people) mid-afternoon tea

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verb

1. (intr) to eat lunch

2. (tr) to provide or buy lunch for

lunch More Idioms  

1. see eat someone alive (someone's lunch); free lunch; lose one's lunch; out to (lunch).

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Other Word Forms

• luncher noun
• lunchless adjective
• prelunch adjective

Etymology

Origin of lunch

First recorded in 1585–95; short for luncheon

Example Sentences

Stacey's family of six have all switched to a dairy free diet to avoid any cross contamination in the kitchen, and Stacey and her husband make all of Brayen's school lunches.

From BBC

Her mother, she says, last managed to eat a small lunch the previous day.

From BBC

Special adaptations were made to the state banquet, with a prayer room set aside in Windsor Castle, while the usual lunch hosted by the King did not take place as Tinubu was fasting.

From BBC

After lunch the children started coming and, as children always did, they went straight to Father.

From Literature

Other members of his sales team burned out on fruitless cold calls, but McDermott said he would skip leisurely, expensive lunches with co-workers to pack in more calls and sales meetings.

From MarketWatch